


The Kingdom of Dirtmouth

by Hisha



Series: Auntie Hornet [4]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hornet is Grimmchild's caretaker now, Nailsmith goes by Sculptor now and is married to Sheo, Not tagging their ship 'cause it's not the main focus, Post-Dream No More Ending (Hollow Knight), Queen Hornet, female Grimmchild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-06 20:09:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20297239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisha/pseuds/Hisha
Summary: From the ashes of Hallownest, a new kingdom is born.





	The Kingdom of Dirtmouth

Over the next few years, Dirtmouth expanded. The Forgotten Crossroad had been completely absorbed into it now, and some bugs were starting to work on restoring parts of the City of Tears. Also the old well had been replaced by an elevator. Hornet was overseeing it all, making sure everything was going smoothly and providing her help when needed.

She was particularly keen on making sure the expansion of Dirtmouth into the ruins of Hallownest wouldn't cross mantis territory. She had been there with Scarlet once, and it did not go well.

Today, aunt & niece were in Greenpath, seeking out the artists living there.

Hornet knocked on the hut's door and Sheo opened, fresh paint all over his apron.

“Hornet”, he said. “It's an honour.”

He turned his gaze to Scarlet who was standing a couple steps behind all wrapped in her wings, then commented on how much she'd grown.

“Children grow up so fast, don't they”, Hornet replied.

“Wait until I grow taller than you, auntie”, Scarlet said.

“So, what brings you two here?” Sheo asked.

“You might have seen the Hollow Knight statue before”, the protector of Dirtmouth said. “I would like to commission something similar for the Ghost Knight, to honour them for ending the infection. It could be in front of the Black Egg.”

“Hum... My husband is obviously a better sculptor than I am”, explained the paintmaster. “Come in.”

Hornet entered the hut and walked up to Sheo's husband, who was posing for a painting.

The paintmaster added the last details to his canvas while his guest explained what she wanted.

“How adorable”, Scarlet commented.

Sheo looked at her over his shoulder. He hadn't seen or heard her move at all, yet she was now standing right behind him.

“He is, isn't he?” he replied.

“It would truly be an honour to take up this work”, the Sculptor told Hornet. “I can already picture exactly how it will look like.”

“If you pour as much love into your craft as your husband does with his, I am certain it will be great”, the child stated. “My parent will look better than ever.”

“I will do my best. After all, I wouldn't be where I am now without this bug.”

The next day, Hornet had to make new curtains for her Dirtmouth home. Again. This was the last time she let Scarlet help with the cooking. At least there hadn't been any other damage.

At her aunt's demand, the child was sitting as far away from the silkwork as she could without leaving the house. She had a book in her lap that she was reading intently.

Then she suddenly looked to Hornet and told her :

“The mantises sent a messenger.”

“Can you see what they want?”

Scarlet remained silent a moment, staring at something only she could see.

“They're... asking to speak to Dirtmouth's leaders”, she said eventually. “And... are being told how to find _you_ since you're the closest thing to a leader this place has right now.”

“Very well. I will handle this on my own. You stay right here.”

Hornet left her unfinished work behind, went outside, and waited for the mantis messenger to find her. She kept her needle close just in case, but wasn't sure whether this was necessary. After all, had the mantises wanted a fight, they would have sent more than one single messenger.

Soon, they arrived to the surface and found Hornet.

“Lady Hornet”, they said. “The Mantis Lords sent me to find you.”

“If they are worried about the expansion of the new Dirtmouth, they need not be. After that last... incident, I have been constantly reminding everyone not to get too close to your village. I do not wish anyone on either side to be needlessly hurt.”

“That is good to know”, the messenger said with a sigh of relief they tried their best to keep hidden.

“This should appease my Lords.”

“Tell them I will keep making sure your village remains untouched”, the protector of Dirtmouth told them.

“And for both our sakes, it will be”, the mantis stated. “Stay true to your word and we will also leave you alone.”

Hornet agreed and sent the messenger back.

“I'm just sayin'”, Taon told Elderbug and the ants builders around them as they all watched the mantis messenger leave, “she's already actin' as our leader anyway. Might as well give her the title to go with it.”

“So we'd just... decide to make her a queen is what you're suggesting”, one of the ants replied.

“That's how it went in my homeland”, the fly explained. “We elected our monarchs.”

“This does sound interesting”, another ant commented.

“There's one thing that worries me about this”, Elderbug chimed in. “This... creature that she insists is her niece...”

“What about her?” Taon asked defiantly.

“It's just...” the old bug hesitated. “There's something not quite right about her.”

“'Shouldn't talk shit 'bout Scarlet”, the merchant told him. “She has very good hearing.”

Elderbug continued, ignoring the warning :

“If her aunt becomes queen, she would have a claim to the throne, wouldn't she? Do you want this to happen? I do not.”

“For her to be the next queen, she'd have to be elected by us too”, Taon explained. “If the citizens don't want this to happen, it's not gonna.”

They went on to explain further how elections worked and how they were organised in their homeland.

Hornet was now back at work on the curtains.

“They're discussing how to make you their queen”, Scarlet informed her.

“Are they?”

“Hum... Elderbug doesn't like the idea of me potentially succeeding you. This is ridiculous. You're part higher being, you might outlive my current incarnation. Besides, I'm already Nightmare King.”

“...Is that what you want to be, though?”

“I already am, auntie. Ever since my father died. I had no choice in the matter.”

“You've never mentioned a Nightmare King before”, Hornet said. “Can you tell me more about this?”

“It's... the role I was born to fulfill.”

“Dear niece, our births should never define us. We are more than them.”

Scarlet went back to reading her book and refused to talk further.

Some time later, the bugs of Dirtmouth organised the first election of its recorded history. Hornet won by a landslide, unsurprisingly, and was given the title of Lady Hornet, First of Her Name, Queen of Dirtmouth.

The following days were... surprisingly ordinary. Hornet was still doing the exact same work she had been doing before ; it was just more official now. She didn't get a fancy palace like her father had, as those couldn't just be built in a day. Besides, she didn't even see the point of wasting so much resources on a grand palace when she already had two homes with everything she needed.

However, she did order the construction of a conference hall for all queenly business that couldn't be led from her own houses.

The construction wasn't done yet when Lemm came to meet Hornet in front of it, bringing concerns about Dirtmouth's expansion into the old City of Tears.

“They will ruin priceless ancient architecture!” he complained. “So much history, gone in an instant!”

“Those restoring the old city have done a great job not destroying it so far”, the queen argued. “Why the sudden concern?”

“Someone has to make sure they do not destroy the past, someone who understands and respects-”

He was interrupted by Scarlet suddenly teleporting in front of him ; the surprise made him drop the book he was carrying in one of his hands. The child quickly picked it up before he could.

“Why are you carrying an ancient cookbook?” she asked.

“An explorer just sold it to me on my way here”, Lemm quickly explained, “now give it back or- Wait, how do you know it's a cookbook?”

“...It's... written on it”, Scarlet replied.

“This is an ancient language no-one except some trained scholars can decipher anymore. When and where could a child like you possibly have learned it?”

“It was, hum... in a past life”, she admitted.

She gave the book back to him while commenting on how she had no use for it since she was banned from the kitchen until the end of time.

He held it tight so as to not drop it again.

“A past life?” he repeated. “I don't buy it. It was just a lucky guess.”

“You would be surprised by what she inexplicably knows”, Hornet chimed in. “Were you suggesting you wanted to supervise the restoration, relic seeker?”

“Oh, it would bring me a lot of joy if you were to give me this task, your majesty.”

“Do not talk like getting the job isn't exactly why you're here in the first place”, Scarlet said. “You just want to have more control over what happens in the City of Tears.”

“Do not listen to this little lia-”

“If you call my niece a liar, relic seeker”, Hornet warned, “I might give this task to someone else.”

“...Very well”, Lemm conceded.

“And Scarlet? You really should let me do the talking. Understood?”

“Yes, auntie.”

“Anyway”, the queen continued, “I will think about it and contact you later, sir.”

Hornet now had to set out to the Fungal Wastes to meet up with the Mantis Lords and sign an official peace treaty. Of course, she had to leave Scarlet behind for this, so now Taon was on babysitting duty again.

“You'd think a queen could get a better babysitter than me”, they commented as the child sat on a crate in the back room of the shop and opened her book.

“You're the only one besides Hornet who's willing to look after the creepy firebug”, she stated, not even bothering to look up from the pages.

“Hey, don't let what the others say get to ya, princess”, the merchant tried to reassure her.

“I am _supposed_ to be a bit creepy and unsettling to bugs”, the child replied, still looking at the book in her lap. “What kind of Nightmare King would I be if I wasn't?”

“The heck is a Nightmare King? Is that what your species is called?”

“...Sure, let's go with that.”

“Are there others like you?”

“Not currently. And you should focus on the customers.”

“There aren't any right n-” Taon began before someone entered their shop and they had to help them out.

By the time they were done, Scarlet had vanished.

Though, before the merchant really had time to process what had happened, she reappeared again in a cloud of red smoke, holding a different book.

“You almost scared me for a second there, kid”, Taon told her. “Don't just go disappearin' on me like that.”

“I was simply picking up a few things.”

The fly instinctively cleaned up their eyes with their forelimbs.

“You missed a spot on the back of your head”, she told them while sitting back down and not even remotely looking in their general direction.

They indeed found some dust spec stuck there. Had she spotted this earlier and not mentioned it until now? Yes, it had to be the case.

Taon re-organised the shelves again, picked up a piece of cherry (the kid loved those) and said “here, catch!” before tossing it to Scarlet, who caught it effortlessly while still reading.

“This one's on the house”, they told her.

She thanked them then unsheathed her proboscis to drink up the fruit juice.

“So, hum... you're like the last of your species or somethin'?” Taon asked.

Scarlet didn't reply. Maybe she didn't want to talk about it, or just couldn't use both her mouths at the same time, or both. Either way, they dropped the subject for now. They could always try again at a later time.

Finally, after all the Sculptor's hard work, the Ghost Knight statue was placed in front of the Black Egg Temple. It stood proudly on its pedestal, brandishing its stone pure nail in the air. He had spent so much time and effort on every detail.

All the bugs present applauded him. The queen herself complimented his work.

“Thank you, your majesty”, he said, tearing up a little. “This truly is my best work. I... I don't know if I could ever make anything else as good...”

“The only way to find out is to keep creating, dear”, his husband chimed in, wrapping his arm around his shoulders.

“You are right as always”, the Sculptor agreed.

Meanwhile, Scarlet teleported out of the crowd and a step or two from the front of the statue. She observed it a moment, then respectfully bowed to it.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll be honest, I made Grimmchild female in my fics because I liked the idea of a female Grimm still going by the "Nightmare King" title but didn't want to make a genderbent AU. Now you know.


End file.
